Pit bull owners gear up to fight breed ban

Group forms to bury proposal

Pit bulls and their owners and admirers gather at the Three Dog Bakery in Seattle last week to discuss breed-specific bans and to educate the public about the dog breed. Anti-pit bull activists in Seattle floated a package of proposals, including a breed ban, to City Councilman Tim Burgess earlier this year. less

Pit bulls and their owners and admirers gather at the Three Dog Bakery in Seattle last week to discuss breed-specific bans and to educate the public about the dog breed. Anti-pit bull activists in Seattle ... more

Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Pit bulls and their owners and admirers gather at the Three Dog Bakery in Seattle last week to discuss breed-specific bans and to educate the public about the dog breed. Anti-pit bull activists in Seattle floated a package of proposals, including a breed ban, to City Councilman Tim Burgess earlier this year. less

Pit bulls and their owners and admirers gather at the Three Dog Bakery in Seattle last week to discuss breed-specific bans and to educate the public about the dog breed. Anti-pit bull activists in Seattle ... more

Photo: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Pit bull owners gear up to fight breed ban

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Rumblings of a Seattle-wide ban on pit bulls have "bully breed" owners preparing for a political dogfight.

Anti-pit bull activists in Seattle floated a package of proposals, including a breed ban, to City Councilman Tim Burgess earlier this year. The council opted not to pursue the proposal for now, but the action has sparked an organizing effort by dog owners concerned that the city will move against the much-maligned breed.

West Seattle resident Colleen Lynne was one of those pushing the proposal, which would have forced pit bull owners to register their dogs and banned new pit bulls from the city. Similar bans have been enacted in other Western Washington cities, including Enumclaw, in an effort to reduce dog attacks.

Lynne said Burgess initially supported the idea, but decided in July not to pursue it because the council was divided on the issue and apprehensive about the controversy that would ensue.

"I got word that he'd talked to several council members," said Lynne, founder of Dogsbite.org. "He said, 'We just didn't get any bites. It's just not the right time.' "

Through an aide, Burgess declined to comment on the status of the proposal.

So-called bully breeds -- dogs drawing from breeds similar in appearance to the American pit bull terrier -- account for one-third of all dog bites reported in Seattle, including several severe attacks in recent years. Still, pit bull supporters say the breed has been unfairly targeted, arguing that owners, not their dogs, should be held responsible.

The City Council's lack of enthusiasm on the issue has done little to calm the nerves of Seattle pit bull owners, some of whom have been organizing as word of the proposal spread.

Responding to the effort, a handful of pit bull owners have created an interest group of their own, Families Against Breed Bans, and are sponsoring events aimed at defeating any future ban.

Leaflets in hand, Chelsey Reynolds, a member of Families Against Breed Bans, met recently with other pit bull owners during an ice cream social at Three Dog Bakery in Seattle.

Several dozen pit bull owners wandered through the downtown pet boutique, their muscular dogs sweetly approaching one another without the aggressiveness often associated with the breed. Reynolds' dog, a small female named Moka, lapped up the attention as her owner met with other attendees.

Dismissing the pro-ban organization Families & Dogs Against Fighting Breeds as "bogus," Reynolds pointed to a failed effort earlier this year to create a citizen initiative banning pit bulls from the city. Reynolds went on to say that Lynne and others are "trying to go around the voters" by pressuring the City Council to enact a ban.

Reynolds said attempts to demonize the pit bull are unfair to the breed, and too generous to negligent owners. Trained properly, the dogs can be safe, loving companions.

"The real problem is the owner, not the dog," said Reynolds, a Seattle resident.

Don Jordan, longtime director of the Seattle Animal Shelter, agreed, and said he doesn't believe a breed ban is warranted.

"We look at the deed, not the breed," Jordan said. "We get in some very massive, muscular dogs that have evidence of fighting. At the same time, we get some very sweet-hearted dogs."

A pit bull ban or other breed-specific legislation would mark a "significant change" in city policy, said Lisa Herbold, legislative aide to Councilman Nick Licata.

"The city has a history of opposing breed bans across the board," Herbold said. City code, she said, "specifically says that the breed of a dog should not be considered."

Herbold said she inquired about the push for a breed ban in July after rumors of Lynne's proposal spread. She said she's unaware of any related legislation currently before the council and that Licata hasn't been asked to consider the proposal.

Julie Russell, a spokeswoman for the anti-ban organization, said she and other members of the group have been told that the council isn't interested in banning pit bulls.

"They're telling us that they don't have an intention of implementing breed-specific legislation at the moment," Russell said. But, she added, she expects the issue might surface again next year and plans to continue organizing to block any move toward a ban.

The various breeds of pit bull now make up half of the shelter's dog population, Jordan said. Pit bulls, like Rottweilers and Doberman pinschers in the 1990s, are currently the trendy large dog breeds in the city.

That popularity and the breed's large size have led to an increase in the number of pit bull bites reported, Jordan said.

But Lynne said she doesn't buy the claim that pit bulls, like the dog that attacked her near her Seattle home last year, simply are misunderstood.